An assistant of the German artist Ottmar Hoerl positions a gnome demonstrating a Hitler salute in the installation “Dance with the Devil” on a square in Straubing, southern Germany, on Wednesday. The exhibition with 1,250 gnomes will open today. Hoerl said the installation is a protest of lingering fascist tendencies in German society. Displaying Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany, but a court ruled earlier this year that Hoerl’s gnomes were clearly satire and thus allowed. Hoerl says: “the fascist idea, the striving to manipulate people or dictate to people ... is latently dangerous and remains present in our society.”